Category: Historical Romance

If I Only Had a Duke by Lenora BellSeries: The Disgraceful Dukes #2Published: 2016Genre: Historical RomanceFormat: KindlePages: 372Source: PurchasedDates Read: May 14-23, 2019Grade: C
Synopsis: After three failed seasons and a disastrous jilting, Lady Dorothea Beaumont has had more than enough of her family’s scheming. She won’t domesticate a duke, entangle an earl, or vie for a viscount. She will quietly exit to her aunt’s Irish estate for a life of blissful freedom. Until an arrogant, sinfully handsome duke singles her out for a waltz, making Thea the most popular belle of the season.

The duke ruined her plans and he’ll just have to fix them.

Garrett, Duke of Osborne, is far too heartless for debutantes or marriage—he uses dalliances and public spectacle to distract from his real purpose: finding the man who destroyed his family. When his search leads to Ireland, the last thing he needs is the determined, achingly innocent Thea, who arrives in the dead of night demanding he escort her to her aunt. His foolish agreement may prove his undoing. The road to the Emerald Isle is fraught with unforeseen dangers, but the greatest peril of all might just be discovering that he has a heart . . . and he’s losing it to Thea. (from Goodreads)

The Raven Prince by Elizabeth HoytSeries: Princes Trilogy #1Published: 2006Genre: Historical RomanceFormat: KindlePages: 392Source: PurchasedDates Read: March 29 – April, 27, 2019Grade: F
Synopsis: There comes a time in a woman’s life when she must do the unthinkable – and find employment. For the widowed Anna Wren, that means taking a job as female secretary for the Earl of Swartingham.

Secretaries are always male – never female – as Anna well knows but the real downfall of her career is the realization that she is falling in love with Edward de Raaf – the Earl. But when she realizes that he is going to visit a brothel in London to take care of his ‘manly’ desires, Anna sees red – and decides to take advantage of the opportunity to also take care of her ‘womanly’ desires – with the Earl as her unknowing lover.

But the Earl has another reason for going to London. He is formalising his betrothal and trying (with little success) to forget about a secretary that has no right being female. Unhandsome, he knows that no woman wants him.

Except for the mysterious lady with whom he spent two unforgettable nights at Aphrodite’s Grotto, the most scandalous brothel in London. But when Anna’s plan is revealed, a bit of blackmail is thrown into the mix, a proposal is rejected and even the Earl himself will be unprepared for the intrigues that ensnare them. (from Goodreads)

The Tokaido Road by Lucia St. Clair RobsonPublished: 1991
Genre: Historical Fiction, Historical RomanceFormat: KindlePages: 538Dates Read: June 29, 2014 – March 28, 2019Grade: A-Synopsis: After the execution of her father, young Lady Asano’s life is in danger from the powerful Lord Kira. To save herself and take revenge, Lady Asano, known in the Pleasure District as Cat, must find the leader of her father’s warriors. In disguise, Cat travels the fabled Tōkaidō Road. Her only weapons are her quick wits, her samurai training, and her deadly, six-foot-long naginata, with its curved, eighteen-inch blade. She’ll need them all to outwit the rōnin hired to capture her. (from Goodreads)

With This Pledge by Tamera AlexanderSeries: Carnton #1Published: 2019Genre: Christian, Historical RomanceFormat: HardcoverPages: 417Source: LibraryDates Read: February 19-21, 2019Grade: ASynopsis: On the night of November 30, 1864, a brutal battle in Franklin, Tennessee, all but decimates the Confederacy and nearly kills Captain Roland Ward Jones. A decorated Mississippi sharpshooter, Jones has a vision on the battlefield and, despite the severity of his wounds, believes his life will be spared. But a life without his leg, he can’t abide. He compels Elizabeth “Lizzie” Clouston—governess to the McGavock family at the Carnton mansion—to intervene should the surgeon decide to amputate. True to her word, Lizzie speaks on his behalf and saves not only the captain’s leg but also his life.

When a fourteen-year-old soldier dies in Lizzie’s arms that night, the boy’s final words, whispered with urgency, demand that Lizzie deliver them to their intended recipient. But all she has is the boy’s first name. And, as she soon discovers, there’s no record of him ever having enlisted. How can she set out alone across a land so divided by war and hatred to honor her pledge? Even more, does she dare accept Captain Jones’s offer to accompany her? As he coalesces at Carnton, romance has blossomed between him and Lizzie—a woman already betrothed to a man she does not love.

From the pages of history and the personal accounts of those who endured the Battle of Franklin, Tamera Alexander weaves the real-life love letters between Captain Roland Ward Jones and Elizabeth Clouston into a story of unlikely romance first kindled amid the shadows of war.

Dreaming of You by Lisa KleypasSeries: The Gamblers of Craven’s #2Published: 1994Genre: Historical RomanceFormat: PaperbackPages: 373Source: PurchasedDates Read: February 12-16, 2019Grade: A-Synopsis: In the shelter of her country cottage, Sara Fielding puts pen to paper to create dreams. But curiosity has enticed the prim, well-bred gentlewoman out of her safe haven—and into Derek Craven’s dangerous world.

A handsome, tough and tenacious Cockney, he rose from poverty to become lord of London’s most exclusive gambling house—a struggle that has left Derek Craven fabulously wealthy, but hardened and suspicious. And now duty demands he allow Sara Fielding into his world—with her impeccable manners and her infuriating innocence. But here, in a perilous shadow-realm of ever-shifting fortunes, even a proper “mouse” can be transformed into a breathtaking enchantress—and a world-weary gambler can be shaken to his cynical core by the power of passion…and the promise of love. (from Goodreads)

The Colonel’s Lady by Laura FrantzPublished: 2011Genre: Christian, Historical RomanceFormat: KindlePages: 417Source: LibraryDates Read: February 6-12, 2019Grade: C+Synopsis: In 1779, when genteel Virginia spinster Roxanna Rowan arrives at the Kentucky fort commanded by Colonel Cassius McLinn, she finds that her officer father has died. Penniless and destitute, Roxanna is forced to take her father’s place as scrivener. Before long, it’s clear that the colonel himself is attracted to her. But she soon realizes the colonel has grave secrets of his own–some of which have to do with her father’s sudden death. Can she ever truly love him? (from Goodreads)

Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia QuinnSeries: The Bridgertons #4Published: 2002Genre: Historical RomanceFormat: KindlePages: 370Source: PurchasedDates Read: August 11, 2018 – February 6, 2019Grade: B+Synopsis: Penelope Featherington has secretly adored her best friend’s brother for . . . well, it feels like forever. After half a lifetime of watching Colin Bridgerton from afar, she thinks she knows everything about him, until she stumbles across his deepest secret . . . and fears she doesn’t know him at all.

Colin Bridgerton is tired of being thought nothing but an empty-headed charmer, tired of everyone’s preoccupation with the notorious gossip columnist Lady Whistledown, who can’t seem to publish an edition without mentioning him in the first paragraph.

But when Colin returns to London from a trip aboard, he discovers nothing in his life is quite the same, especially Penelope Featherington, the girl haunting his dreams!

And when he discovers that Penelope has secrets of her own, this elusive bachelor must decide . . . is she his biggest threat, or his promise of a happy ending?